In-vitro studies of muscular tissue and, in particular cardiac muscle bundles have been directed toward the understanding of the mechanical characteristics of the contracting phenomenon.
It was thought that once these characteristics had been defined, the mechanical behavior of a healthy organ could be represented in mathematical terms. Some of these terms could then be used as criteria in the diagnostic of pathological conditions.
The inventor focused his study on the analysis of the inotropy (from the Greek is, inos fiber; and tropos, behaviour) of the cardiac muscle, i.e. its contractibility.
Traditionally, the behaviour of the cardiac muscle has been analyzed by measuring the absolute values of the systolic and diastolic blood pressures and of the pulse rate; and by listening to auditory manifestations of the muscle valve activity. Electrocardiography provides only a gross inferential tool for the diagnosis of pathological heart conditions. Studies of time and displacement dependency in the behaviour of the cardiac organ have mainly been directed to the interpretation of force-versus-velocity curves, and the potential use of a theoretical maximum velocity parameter (obtained by converging extrapolations of a family of force-velocity curves) as an indicator of organ health. None of the previous time-dependence studies have suggested a practical interpretation of the consistent parameters around which this invention is implemented.